College Essay Format Help from Professional Academic Writers
Students frequently have to complete college essay writing tasks in different subjects. Still, to succeed in it, they do not only have to be proficient in academic writing but also in college essay format aspects. Actually, one of the most challenging issues related to essay writing is to guarantee proper structure and formatting. Among the questions that many students have concerning formatting issues are whether to single-space or double-space the paper, how to organize the cover page, how to format in-text citations and others.
If you encounter troubles with your college essay format, in this article, you can get to know more specific information about the general formatting principles, traditional and unconventional formatting structures, and get a formatting sample. It is essential to know the basics of essay formatting since essay writing is an inevitable part of academic curriculum. When assigning essays, professors evaluate students’ knowledge of the course, as well as their critical thinking, writing and analytical skills. They also focus on the ability to formulate arguments and express personal opinions. Still, content and proper writing mechanics are not the only thing needed for an excellent grade – quality formatting is required, too. If students fail to format their papers in a proper way, it will hardly be read till the end. If you are not good at college essay formatting, check out guidelines on how to format in MLA style, since this citation style is one of the most frequently assigned styles.
How to Format a College Essay in MLA
Margins, Spacing, and Font Size:
- set 1-inch marginal space from the top, bottom, and both sides of the page;
- the line spacing should be set as double-spaced;
- use Times New Roman font, size 12.
The Headings:
- set the indentation to left-justified and start the heading in the top left corner of the page;
- the format of the heading is the following one:
– student’s name;
– instructor’s name;
– the name of the subject and the subject code;
– the date of submission.
The Header:
- put only the page number and your last name on the pages. The header should be right indented.
The Paragraphs:
- leave a half-inch space at the beginning, for example, by pressing the tab button.
In order to improve your writing, you should be aware of a few more tips.
- Make the sentences short and plain. You should also avoid using the passive voice, as the active voice makes the writing more convincing.
- Stick to the subject in every paragraph. Check yourself to ensure you do not drift away from the given theme, as tutors really hate this.
- Provide connection and fluidity in an essay. Every sentence must be connected with the previous one and complete or conclude the thought.
- Create an outline and stick to it to prevent chaotic writing.
- Think up an impressive title and a thought-provoking beginning to catch the reader’s attention.
Keeping the listed tips in mind will help you follow essay writing format and receive only positive feedback from professors!
How to Pick Proper Format for College Essay Papers?
The Importance of the Structure
If a paper lacks proper structure, the whole piece of writing can be pointless and confusing. The adequate structure is what helps your essay or other paper type look like a well-developed and logical piece with transitions. Otherwise, the paper can easily confuse readers and have little or no sense.
When you take responsibility for ensuring proper formatting, you:
- help your essay have a smooth flow of ideas and clarity;
- make sure the main message is communicated across;
- demonstrate proper organization and logical connections;
- make a lasting impression on the professor.
How to Succeed in Formatting College Essay Papers?
Compose an Outline
It does not matter what type of writing or topic you have, or what citation style you have to follow, keep in mind that the first step towards success is to compose an outline. It is a specific extended plan of your piece of writing that serves the role of a roadmap when it comes to writing the very essay. You can outline your paper in the form of a bubble map, mind map, a formal plan or extended outline, or even a list of ideas whatsoever. The underlying goal of such an approach is to help you elaborate ideas and plan your paper well beforehand.
With the help of an outline, you will:
- identify the main points to analyze in the paper;
- make sure the ideas are well-organized and logically connected within the body paragraphs;
- find out whether there are any weak points in the essay;
- plan the order of ideas that will appear, the number of paragraphs, and effective ways of starting and finishing the paper.
As you are working on an outline, ensure you divide the essay into the beginning, the middle section, and the ending. This is particularly important when you are working on an application essay format, because it is crucial to tell your story to the admission officers in the most concise and detailed way at the same time. Still, even with the other essay types, it is important to adhere to the basic structure where you provide an introduction, main paragraphs, and a conclusion.
The Introduction
In college application essay format, it is recommendable to make the opening paragraph attention-grabbing and start it with a specific controversial fact, rhetorical question, anecdote, etc. After you have provided background information and appealed to the audience’s attention, add a thesis statement.
A thesis is a well-developed sentence that conveys the main idea of your writing in an argumentative manner. It is possible to formulate a thesis in the form of an answer to the given essay question or prompt.
If you face immense difficulties working on your introduction, you can compose it once the whole essay is complete – at the end of the writing process.
The Main Body
When it comes to the admission essay format, in the body paragraphs, please focus on the events, experiences, activities, and other examples that can be used for thesis support.
Unconventional Formatting Structures
Unconventional essay structure is the one that does not fit into a specific formatting category. These formatting styles cause more difficulties to students as it is hard to understand how to maintain such a college essay format. There are such options as to how to deal with unconventional formatting successfully:
- Experiment with the college essay formatting. For instance, instead of following a conventional essay format, you can express more creativity and organize your writing in the following ways:
- as a film script;
- with a creative and unique visual format;
- in the form of song lyrics;
- as a legal brief;
- in the form of a debate.
- Use different linguistic techniques. The format of sentences can also be provided in a creative manner:
- as a programming code;
- in your mother tongue;
- written in iambic pentameter or free verse whatsoever.
These linguistic techniques can bring more creativity and appeal to your piece of writing. However, they better fit to some creative writing rather than college application essay format. Keep in mind that it is not always good to experiment with all writing tasks.
Format of a Good College Application Essay: Key Ideas
Learning how to format a college essay, you will realize that there are two formatting levels you should take into consideration. A micro level of formatting implies working on choosing appropriate fonts, margins, headings, and so on, while a macro level means that the essay overall structure should be outstanding.
Guidelines for making the college essay format excellent at the micro-level:
- Do the drafting using reliable software for word processing.
- Even doing mere copying-and-pasting, mind the formatting issues you might have in the text box as you need delineated paragraphs without any damage done to the essay.
- Adding your text as an attachment, check whether the document has standard margins (1 inch), readable fonts, and appropriate spacing (1.5 or 2). Make sure that the format of the file is compatible with specifications of the application you are using.
- If you have to provide a title for the essay, you will know about that from college specifications. Otherwise, there is no need to waste your word count on a title that is not obligatory.
Guidelines for making the college essay format excellent at the micro-level:
- It is not possible to determine which format for the essay will be your selling point.
- Speaking about the essay structure, the most essential factor is to have a clear introductory part with your intentions specified and a conclusion that can wrap up ideas efficiently. You are free to make the middle of the paper individually customized. The only thing about successful format for college essay writing is the logical flow of ideas.
- In some cases, using templates can be beneficial, but your admission essay will likely lose its original sounding if you stick even to the best sample.
Professional Tips on Formatting Your Essay of College Admission
So, you have completed your app essay and you need to make its formatting perfect. Let us start!
First of all, check on such common features as headings, margins, and size of fonts. Do not forget to check on spacing as well. You are working on a personal essay which should look and sound original and individual for the admission board as they have to make a choice based on the understanding of your unique personality along with your likes, dislikes, personal weaknesses, experience, and abilities. They want to get to know you through your writing and you have to prove that you are a perfect choice for them as you are suitable for the selected course.
- Mind the margins as they play a significant role when it comes to the overall impression the board will have. It will not be complicated for you to do it, as such software as Google Docs, MS Word, and others will not let you make a mistake with their typical pre-installed formatting of the documents. For instance, using MS Word, you will have a 1-inch margin by default; still, you can amend the format and make the required modifications easily.
- Spacing is one more factor that is frequently disregarded by students. Using Microsoft Word, you will see that the software suggests a default spacing set-up; nevertheless, we recommend you to double check requirements from the professor or admission board to match your paper with their expectations. If they require double spacing as a must, you should follow this instruction. In addition, mind the text alignment to choose between right or left ones. Selecting a certain paragraph, opt for the line spacing in the document under the indents.
- Your college essay formatting also implies working on the font type and size. It is typical for papers to have Times New Roman 12 font.
- In some cases, colleges provide specific formatting rules for application papers. For instance, there can be a requirement for a student to use Harvard or MLA as a style of referencing and formatting. Our online service always adheres to the set of instructions the customers provide, so please clarify all details with the college admission commission if you have decided to order from us. We want to be flawless in writing and you can help us in that.
- Headings are also important in case of submitting the entry write-ups by college students. There is actually no standard of formatting headings for all students and types of papers. The writing style impacts the style of headings; however, there is a set of general rules for most of the educational establishments. In the first line, it is common to have the student’s name, then the instructor’s name, the subject with the code of the course, if needed; and the current date. All those details are provided in different lines. After that, you have to do the text alignment to the left (Ctrl+L).
- Each body paragraph should focus on a particular topic or aspect, and all of your points should be clearly connected.
- As you outline your essay, look for any gaps or confusing transitions between ideas. Your body paragraphs should not be in random order.
Conclusion
You’ll end your essay with a conclusion. Depending on what structure you use for your essay, your conclusion could include:
- An ending to the action or event being narrated
- Some reflection, an insightful thought
- Looking ahead to the future
- Connecting the rest of your essay to you, the type of student you’ll be, your growth and development, etc.
Excellent-Quality College Essay Format
It is not always possible to cope with formatting on your own, so if you want to be sure that your essay corresponds to the formatting standards, seek help from our professionals. If you place your order with Essays-Panda.com, you will always get expert help and support with different types of writing. The writer assigned to work on your paper will correspond to your major and academic complexity level. Our essay formatting service has excellent experts who hold academic degrees of Master’s and Ph.D. levels and who can boast of in-depth experience brushing up on academic texts.
It does not matter to us what topic or citation style you require – our professionals can cope with any task. We have the best writers and editors – all of them undergo sufficient trainings and are well-versed in all modern college essay format issues.
